Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

When Dava Sobel's Longitude was published to universal acclaim in 1995, readers voiced only one regret: that it was not illustrated. Now, William Andrewes, the man who organized and hosted the Longitude Symposium that inspired her book, has joined Dava Sobel to create a richly illustrated version of her classic story.

The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the thorniest scientific problem of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Throughout the great age of exploration, sailors attempted to navigate the oceans without any means of measuring their longitude: All too often, voyages ended in total disaster when both crew and cargo were captured or lost upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of seafaring nations hung on a resolution.

To encourage a solution, governments established major prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000 — truly a king's ransom  was offered by the British Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment  from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton  had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that solved the problem by keeping precise time at sea, called today the chronometer. His trials and tribulations to win the prize throughout a forty-year obsession are the culmination of this remarkable story.

The Illustrated Longitude contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 178 images chosen by Will Andrewes: from portraits of every important figure in the story to maps, diagrams, and photographs of scientific instruments, especially John Harrison's remarkable clocks. Andrewes's elegant captions emphasize the scientific and historical events surrounding the images, and they tell their own dramatic story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Dava Sobel's memorable tale.

Review:

"Two respected tellers of the longitude tale have teamed up! Sobel 's compelling prose is coupled with colorful and detailed illustrations provided by Andrewes. This edition responds to entreaties by readers who loved Sobel's Longitude but who wanted pictures to go with it." Mercator's World

Review:

"Enormous care has been devoted to the illustrations and captions. Readers will finish this book considerably more educated about geography and navigation." USA Today

Review:

Review:

"This handsome edition is profusely illustrated with numerous annotated photos and paintings of the players and the machinery that led to the chronometer's creation." Library Journal

Review:

"For this handsome illustrated edition, Sobel has the ideal collaborator in William J. H. Andrewes...and the designer and publisher have done full justice to their choices of images....[T]he perfect companion for armchair admirals." KLIATT

Synopsis:

The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire text of Longitude, redesigned to accompany the 183 images that Andrewes has chosen to accompany the narrative.

Synopsis:

The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the thorniest scientific problem of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Throughout the great age of exploration, sailors attempted to navigate the oceans without any means of measuring their longitude: All too often, voyages ended in total disaster when both crew and cargo were captured or lost upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of seafaring nations hung on a resolution. To encourage a solution, governments established major prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of (pound)20,000 - truly a king's ransom - was offered by the British Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment - from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton - had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that solved the problem by keeping precise time at sea, called today the chronometer. His trials and tribulations to win the prize throughout a forty-year obsession are the culmination of this remarkable story.

Synopsis:

A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller Longitude.

The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem.

To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000 — truly a king's ransom — was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment — from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton — had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story.

The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes — from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.

Synopsis:

Dava Sobel's Longitude tells the story of the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and prior centuries. How a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. The scientific establishment was certain that a celestial answer would be found, but while it invested untold effort in this pursuit, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. His trials and tribulations are the stuff of legend.

The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire text of Longitude, redesigned to accompany the 183 images that Will Andrewes has chosen to accompany Sobel's narrative — from portraits of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientific instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.

About the Author

Dava Sobel is the author of the best-sellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, and the editor and translator of Letters to Father. She lives in East Hampton, New York.

William J. H. Andrewes is a museum consultant specializing in the history of scientific instruments and time measurement. He is the editor of The Quest for Longitude and lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

"Review"
by Mercator's World,
"Two respected tellers of the longitude tale have teamed up! Sobel 's compelling prose is coupled with colorful and detailed illustrations provided by Andrewes. This edition responds to entreaties by readers who loved Sobel's Longitude but who wanted pictures to go with it."

"Review"
by USA Today,
"Enormous care has been devoted to the illustrations and captions. Readers will finish this book considerably more educated about geography and navigation."

"Review"
by Library Journal,
"This handsome edition is profusely illustrated with numerous annotated photos and paintings of the players and the machinery that led to the chronometer's creation."

"Review"
by KLIATT,
"For this handsome illustrated edition, Sobel has the ideal collaborator in William J. H. Andrewes...and the designer and publisher have done full justice to their choices of images....[T]he perfect companion for armchair admirals."

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire text of Longitude, redesigned to accompany the 183 images that Andrewes has chosen to accompany the narrative.

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the thorniest scientific problem of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Throughout the great age of exploration, sailors attempted to navigate the oceans without any means of measuring their longitude: All too often, voyages ended in total disaster when both crew and cargo were captured or lost upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of seafaring nations hung on a resolution. To encourage a solution, governments established major prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of (pound)20,000 - truly a king's ransom - was offered by the British Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment - from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton - had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that solved the problem by keeping precise time at sea, called today the chronometer. His trials and tribulations to win the prize throughout a forty-year obsession are the culmination of this remarkable story.

"Synopsis"
by Holtzbrinck,
A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller Longitude.

The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem.

To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000 — truly a king's ransom — was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment — from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton — had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story.

The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes — from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Dava Sobel's Longitude tells the story of the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and prior centuries. How a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. The scientific establishment was certain that a celestial answer would be found, but while it invested untold effort in this pursuit, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. His trials and tribulations are the stuff of legend.

The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire text of Longitude, redesigned to accompany the 183 images that Will Andrewes has chosen to accompany Sobel's narrative — from portraits of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientific instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and gifts — here at Powells.com.